Tesla and Model S Owner Agree: Fire Was a Fluke

Call it the fire seen ’round the world. When a man driving a Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model S rammed into a large, angular metal object at highway speed, the electric vehicle’s battery pack burst into flames. Soon enough, the fire engulfed the front of the car. Yet the extraordinary circumstances of the event fazed neither car owner nor Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Days after the crash, both were calling the fire a fluke.

Musk described the event in detail in a blog post on Tesla’s website. The architect of the Model S wrote, “the geometry of the object caused a powerful lever action…impaling the Model S with a peak force on the order of 25 tons.” He added that only such a powerful force could puncture the armor plate underneath Tesla’s flagship vehicle. Since the fire was contained and the safety of the driver assured, Musk felt the test was passed.

Rob Carlson, the owner of the Model S in question, agreed wholeheartedly in an email reprinted on the Tesla site. Carlson described the occurrence as a freak event, a kind of “celestial bullet” engineers couldn’t have foreseen entering the picture. It turns out Carlson is also a Tesla investor and couldn’t wait to get back into a Model S (So, Tesla offered him a loaner). Carlson remarked the “Internet images really exaggerate” the fire, saying it was “a controlled burn.” Wall Street’s reaction was also exaggerated.